As expected, she saw Stefan lying beside a flat rock on the river. "Stefan!" Great joy overcame her. She ignored the scratches on her legs and rushed toward him rapidly. Having choked on water, he appeared to have passed out. Like Renee, his body was filled with cuts and gashes. On the other hand, his left leg had relapsed from his old injury, and it could not move it at all. "Hold on. You must hold on!"Deep, excruciating pain overcame her now. It was deep heartache. While crying, she suppressed her deep pain and brought him to the river bank. After that, she bent down to give him CPR. His lips were as cold as his body. That perfect and handsome face had lost its rosiness because he'd been soaking in the water for too long. His face had lost all its color and was as white as a sheet… as if he was dead. "Wake up! Stefan, wake up!" Renee pressed on his chest quickly and gave him oxygen through his lips. At the same time, she could not hold back her tears. She had en
The people of the rescue team screamed in joy. "How unbelievable! They survived such rapid waters. It's a miracle!" "Cut the crap! Let's get them to the hospital." Seraphina looked at Stefan, and when she saw him breathing on the ground, she heaved a sigh of relief. However, she became very gloomy. She regretted being so weak and timid and not diving into the river to save him immediately. If not, she would be snuggling with Stefan now. "We want to get them to the hospital too, but... but they're hugging each other too tightly. We can't separate them at all. Don't just stand there and do nothing. Come and give a hand." The captain of the rescue team wiped away the sweat on his forehead and tried his best to separate Stefan and Renee, but it was to no avail. After that, several other men rushed forward to help, but it was still useless. Hence, the rescue was delayed. "Let me!" Jovan, who was standing beside and looking on coldly, volunteered proudly. At that moment, he s
"You're so vulgar!" Seraphina clenched her fists tightly. After she put away her fierceness, she suffered a great sense of defeat. He brought up her most painful rancor. During these years, she had been Stefan's buddy. They seemed to be close, so it was not strange that they ate and slept together, let alone held hands. However, their hand-holding was unlike that of lovers. She dreamed to become his true girlfriend, so she could hold his hand, kiss him, and even do something more intimate with him. "You got angry, so it looks like I made the right guess. You're indeed noble, but you can't be reconciled with it. This kind of reluctance will distort your mind. In the end, you'll become more vulgar, worse than me." Jovan got closer to her and revealed a smile with profound meaning. "Nonsense! I'm different. I love Stefan, so I won’t hurt him. You said you love Renee, but all you did was hurt her. Renee was right. Your love is vulgar and extremely destructive!" Seraphina
After one night, Renee gradually regained her strength and woke up. "You're awake. How are you feeling now?" Jovan sat beside the bed with his head low, peeling an apple. He sliced the skin into a thin and long stripe. It did not even break until the end. It was just like what he always did, meticulous to the last detail, leaving no space to turn around. A painful headache pounded Renee's head as she looked at the white ward. For a moment, she was stunned. "Where am I? Am I still alive?" "Of course you are. You're so tough. How could such a puny river defeat you? What's more, you have a great will. You hurt your leg from the fall, but you held on until downstream. I admire that very much!" Jovan appeared like a warm younger man as he smiled tenderly and handed Renee the apple he had just peeled. Of course, she was not in the mood for apples. She frowned and asked, "Where's Stefan? How is he?" "Don't worry. He has stronger willpower than yours. He lost so much blood, y
"No, I don't."Renee shook her head and sounded firm. She made up her mind never to get back together with him again after learning about his deep and passionate love for her. She once vowed to God that she would leave him as long as he was safe and sound. It was a vow. After she made it, it would bring greater danger if she broke it. The great disaster that happened this time around was like a warning given by God to her. If she stubbornly wanted to break that vow out of her selfishness, Stefan might not be so lucky this time. He might even get killed. "Well, what do you plan to do next?" Jovan heaved a sigh of relief and continued sounding her out. "I don't know either. I'll take one step at a time." Renee shrugged. All she had now was exhaustion, and she did not want to think too far ahead.After all, a plan was always at the mercy of fate, no matter how perfectly things were arranged. It was just like what happened a few months ago: She was deeply in love with S
Jovan patted her shoulders and said that with deep meaning."Haha! Reticent?" Renee found that word extremely ridiculous. "If you could be reticent, how did Seraphina get that video? Frankly... it was just something you held against Stefan." "I'm sorry." Jovan heaved a long sigh. "I did that just because I love you too much and I yearn to be with you. I couldn't think of any way to make him leave you except it's for protecting you..." When he reached that point, he showed a thumbs-up. "The facts show that Stefan does love you very much. He was willing to let me be the president of Hunt Enterprise, let alone date Seraphina. Well, I admire that very much." "You're so despicable!"Renee glared at him fiercely and said, full of disdain, "You never defeated him, so don't even dream of that now. I'll turn myself in for this crime I did. If you want to use this to threaten him to give up his post as the president, you're just too naive." "No, I love you so much. Why would I risk
"Get lost, you maniac!" Renee regarded him as crazy, so she did not take his words seriously at all. "You're a vulgar man who deserves to disappear and hide in a dark corner. If you're smart, stay in your dark corner and grow in whatever lascivious way you want. If you dare to create trouble in front of me, I'll make you pay a price you'll never forget!"She casually picked up an ornament and smashed it hard on him, trying to get rid of him.Jovan was tall, so he had the advantage. He easily dodged the attack. He held up his chin with a wicked smile. "Baby, don't be mad. If you don't want to see me, I'll leave. After all, you'll come begging me sooner or later. We'll have kids by then." "Get lost! You pervert!" Renee was fuming with anger. She ignored her leg injury and pounced on him, picking up everything she could throw in the ward and flinging them on him. The loud commotion immediately attracted the attention of the nurse. "Hey, Miss, you have just gotten out of dang
"Err, Margaret. Why... did you come?" Renee panicked a bit. She wanted to cover her leg injury. "Stop covering that. You make me so worried!" Margaret hugged Renee and started crying violently. "I know what silly things you did. How silly you are! You jumped into the river for an unworthy man. Have you ever thought about your two kids, Mr. Everheart and even me? If anything happens to you, I won't be able to answer for it even if I pay a heavy price!" "I'm sorry, Margaret. I was impulsive, so I didn't think so far. Don't worry. I'm all right. It's nothing serious. It'll cure in two days. It's just a minor affair!" Renee patted her chest in a carefree manner. "That's no minor affair! That's the river around the city, and it’s so high. There are jagged rocks at the bottom, and if you aren't careful, you could be smashed into mush. You would have regretted it very much then!" "Okay, got it. I won't be so impulsive now. After all, I'm your adorable kid. I want to listen to yo
"Do you want to leave?" Stefan saw Renee. He was calm, indifferent, and distant. His behavior stung Renee. Renee could easily recall their lovey-dovey memories. They had both risked their lives for each other and vowed to be together forever. They had two children, too. Yet, they ended up as strangers.Although Renee was heartbroken, she became competitive. She smoothed her hair and said in a similarly cold manner, "I'm going to the washroom." "Okay." Stefan did not have anything to say. He nodded and walked past Renee before heading to the dining table. "Hmph! I didn't expect you to come so boldly," Quinton sneered.At the sight of Stefan, Quinton subconsciously clenched his fists, acting like he was about to fight Stefan. On the surface, he wouldn't act aggressively because he knew Renee would stop him. "It's not easy for the few great families to get together. It's good and meaningful for us. If I refused to come, it would make me seem heartless."Stefan kept his co
Having said that, Renee lowered her head, about to leave. She didn't even have the time to bother about Adie and Abby, and told Quinton to take them home later. Her strange behavior filled Quinton with displeasure. He blocked Renee and said solemnly, "Are you afraid? Do you want to run away? People might think that you're guilty and have cheated on your husband!""No, I'm not!" Renee refuted him loudly, then explained seriously, "I'm busy. I need to handle something right away. Plus, I'm not guilty. I did nothing wrong. There's no reason for me to feel guilty." Quinton went straight to the point. "What are you afraid of since you know you're not guilty? Why do you want to run away? He should be afraid instead!""I told you. I'm not afraid of him. I'm just…" "What?" Quinton crossed his arms and looked at Renee coldly. He wanted to get to the bottom of it.Renee came up with a ridiculous yet normal excuse. "I… I recalled that the dessert shop that I want to head to is about to
Jovan called Stefan to sound the latter out. Anyway, it would be convenient for Stefan to rush over since they were both at the same spot. "I'll be right there," Stefan said. Then, he hung up.For a moment, silence washed over everyone, as if something terrible was about to happen.After taking in the new information, Leia said indignantly, "What's going on? Why does he want to come? Isn't he too shameless? How dare he come?" Although everything wasn't discussed openly, everyone knew why Stefan and Renee broke up all of a sudden, despite how lovey-dovey they were. The reason was that Stefan had cheated on Renee.Even if the adultery was faked, it was still the cause of their breakup. If Stefan were shameful or guilty, he wouldn't have agreed to come. He was going to face Renee there with their friends and family around. Certainly, it was embarrassing. "Hmph! Why not? He impersonated me, seized my business, and snatched away my woman. Plus, he led a steady life, got married
Jovan's words made the atmosphere quiet and bizarre. "Are you out of your mind, Jovan? It's already very annoying to have someone like you here. Do you have to get another annoying guy?" Leia frowned, crossing her arms. She kept scolding him.Initially, the atmosphere was considered harmonious. It was still considered fine even if there was an annoying person like Jovan. Unexpectedly, he wanted to call another, more terrible person to come here. Things would certainly go wrong. "Ms. Osborne, you're famous for talking harshly, too. You're just like me. I love it." However, Jovan was not mad at all. He grinned while waiting for Stefan to answer the call. Generally, Stefan would not answer Jovan's call. Surprisingly, he picked it up that time."What's the matter?" Jovan purposely put it on speaker mode. Stefan sounded aloof and emotionless.Jovan sounded wicked as he calmly asked Stefan, "Do you want to join a gathering, Stefan?""I'm going to hang up if you don't say anythi
In the past, Jovan had always regarded Stefan as a coward. Stefan couldn't forget about Renee, but he kept pushing Renee to another man. It seemed like Justin was more responsible, considerate, and gentle. Of course, Renee would lead a very happy, steady, and comfortable life with such a man. At the very least, Jovan felt that he could not be that meticulous and considerate. He would only drive Renee mad just to get her attention. "Hmph! Are you trying to humiliate me or yourself?" Justin didn't find that a compliment. Instead, it sounded like smockery. Jovan made it sound like Justin was a nice guy, but would not be picked by Renee. Usually, people like that had to suffer and would not end up well."I'm praising you." Jovan was helpless because of his reputation as the villain. Although he had said a lot of annoying things, he did want to compliment Justin. His love was probably as deep as Justin's, but his and Stefan's ways of loving Renee were much inferior to Justin's.
"That's unnecessary." Justin stood in front of Renee, his face cold. He said firmly, "She's unwell and can't have wine." "Is she unwell? I didn't see that." Jovan sized Renee up before he sized Justin up. Then, he sneered, "And who are you to her? You can't stop her from having wine.""It's none of your business who I am to her. I said she can't have wine." Justin always kept peace with others, but at that moment, he was dominant. He didn't always want to control Renee, but she had drunk a lot of wine that day. It might have hurt her belly. Hence, he felt it better for her to abstain from wine lately. However, Jovan was unaware of that affair. He simply found Justin purposely showing his ownership over Renee, which disgusted him."Waiter, get her a glass of milk. She only wants that," Justin instructed a waiter, showing his consideration for Renee. "It's okay. I can have a little wine. Plus, I'm rather good at drinking. It's not easy for everyone to get together tonight. I do
They danced for around ten minutes. Renee danced to the song heartily. Her initial gloomy mood also improved.Renee drank some water and took a few deep breaths. Then, she sincerely praised Leia, "Alright. Your welcome ceremony is bizarre, but it helped relieve my stress. I like it very much!"She could tell that Leia had painstakingly prepared that gift for her. After all, it was not easy to ask the Zambawi people from primitive tribes to sing an English song. "I'm glad you like it. I did this because I wanted you to relax and stop taking things seriously. You need to stop being so hard on yourself and get rid of all the pressure!" Leia said honestly. The Zambawi hand-drum dance came with the charms of a primitive dance. Its goal was to set people free. Of course, it was suitable for Renee to relieve her stress."Yeah, your stress is relieved. From now on, you'll start afresh. This is for you. I'm sure it'll be one of your happy memories." Liam handed the previous Polaroid to
"This is your welcome ceremony. This hand-drum dance is to help eliminate bad luck." Leia held Renee's arm, satisfied with her arrangement. She said happily, "Listen to their song! It's a great song!""Is there a song?" Renee frowned; she felt that Leia was always doing bizarre things. She wondered how Leia could come up with such a preposterous welcome ceremony."Mm, listen carefully! It's English. You can understand it." At that point, Leia said to the Zambawi people, "Put on your microphone. And sing louder."The Zambawi people gave their cooperation. They used their typical Zambawi singing to sing the English song. While listening to the song, Renee found it very familiar. "The flowers will bloom in spring, and the birds are free. I'm still waiting, waiting for my love to come back. Hurry home!""Isn't that Spring Flowers by Curtis Harrett?" Renee finally recalled what song it was. It was a song with a happy beat. It could make people happy. The Zambawi people made th
"I don't know, either. All I ever remember from when I was young is that I led a very painful life. I once tried my best to make the Garcia family accept me. I did all the dirty and tiring jobs. I went out to work at an early age to get money for them. I also did all the house chores. "But my foster parents were never nice to me. They would always beat me up or scold me. My elder foster brother also saw me as an eyesore. He always tried to get me killed…" Quinton calmly described his past. He no longer seemed to be in pain. All that was left in him was numbness, as if he were talking about someone else.However, Renee was always in pain whenever she heard him talk about his past. She felt like she had returned to his past with him and experienced those painful things. It was normal for her to feel that way because they were twins. A lot of their thoughts and feelings were synchronized. "I suddenly recalled that I would inexplicably become gloomy many times when I was young. I